WAVES OF STATE FORMATION IN EUROPE SINCE 1815 AND EAST EUROPE This research paper traces the waves of state formation in Europe since the end of the Napoleonic wars and compares and contrasts the experience of Western and Eastern Europe. In general, East Europe has consistently lagged developments in Western Europe.
1. 1815-1914. The development of centralized, unified nation states was well advanced in Western Europe even before the French Revolution. Italy and Germany were unified in the 1860s. In Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Great Britain, Switzerland and France (with interruptions such as Napoleon III), liberal democracies flourished. Germany, Italy and Spain turned toward authoritarian and later fascist regimes but eventually became democratic after World War II. Western Europe rapidly industrialized.
The situation in East Europe was very different. Geographically on the edge of Asia, it suffered from successive invasions from the East. The Balkans were ruled for more than five centuries by the Ottoman Turks who "implanted a backward system that snuffed out budding kingdoms and cultures and retarded South East Europe for centuries" (Rostin 7). Economically, East Europe in the 19th century served as markets for finished products from Western Europe and as a source of foodstuffs and other commodities. The Austro-Hungarian Empire presided over many ethnic and religious groups, who were at odds among themselves and the great powers which largely controlled their af
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